


A mahope iho o na mea a pau i keia (Even after all this)

by eskimita



Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010), NCIS
Genre: Age Difference, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Angst, Bottom Tony, Dom/sub, Gibbs Bashing, M/M, McGee bashing, Not a story for Gibbs fans, Not a story for Ziva fans, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Steve is a pain in the ass, Switch Steve, Top Danny, Ziva Bashing, not a/b/o
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-15
Updated: 2016-06-12
Packaged: 2018-06-02 08:31:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 18,170
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6559435
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eskimita/pseuds/eskimita
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Twelve years ago, Tony and his soulmates stopped talking to each other. Now, he needs them more than ever. Will they be there for him when he needs them or will he be as alone as he has been for so much of his life?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Imua O (Before)

**Author's Note:**

> The idea behind this soulmate AU was borrowed from a prompt that I saw on Tumblr where soulmates are capable of writing to each other on their arms. This particular AU is different from what I believe that original poster thought of, but all rules are explained in the story. This is also a fix-it for NCIS Season 8 Episode 5 "Dead Air".

Tony could remember the first time something appeared on his arm like it was yesterday. At ten, he’d almost given up hope of ever seeing anything written on his arms. Most of the other kids at the Hun School of Princeton had gotten their writing years ago and were regularly talking to their soulmates. Some had even met their soulmates. Tony had never seen anything written on his arm. He had convinced himself that he was one of the two percent of people without a soulmate. Then it happened.

He’d just finished his nightly run when he felt a tingle on his right arm, near his elbow. At first, he dismissed it as a cramp; he’d had tennis lessons earlier after all. When he pulled his shirt off to shower, Tony was shocked to find purple scribbles on his arm, drawn in what was most definitely a child’s uneven style. Tony stared at the purple lines for a few minutes, not quite processing the change that had taken place. When he could finally do something more than stare, Tony forced himself to move to the shower.

“I do have a soulmate,” he whispered, staring at the purple scribbles that stained his arm. “I have a soulmate.”

Later that night, when the wonder of seeing the scribbles had faded, Tony would realize just how strange his first message from his soulmate was. He’d always figured, since he’d never had writing before, that he would be the dominant in his relationship with his soulmate, that because he was older it was logical that he be the one to take charge. His writing, however, had been on his dominant arm. He was not going to be the dominant one in his relationship. He would be submissive to a soulmate years younger than him.

“He can’t be more than two or three, if he’s coloring on his arm,” Tony thought as he looked down at his arm. Now that he had processed his shock, he took the time to trace the drawing. It was only a vague shape, as most toddler drawings are, but Tony imagined that it looked vaguely like a fish, or a shark. “His parents probably expect his soulmate to be his age, or younger. Maybe I should pretend that I never saw this, wait until he’s older to write to him. I don’t want anyone to think I’m some sort of creep.”

Still, Tony grabbed a pen and carefully pressed it to his wrist, praying that his soulmate’s parents would be understanding, that they wouldn’t make up their minds to protect their child from the strange ten year old writing to him.

‘My name is Tony and I’m ten years old. I know you probably can’t read yet, but maybe your mom will read this to you. I’ve been waiting a long time to meet you. I wasn’t sure that you existed. I don’t know your name or when we’ll meet, but I’m your soulmate. I can’t wait to meet you.’

* * *

 

An hour away, in Newark, Clara WIlliams let out a shocked gasp for the second time that day, dropping the toy that she’d been putting away. Earlier, during dinner, purple scribbles had appeared near her two year old son’s left elbow, startling both boy and mother. She hadn’t expected Danny to get his first writing until he was a little older. Still, the scribbles reassured her somewhat, so clearly drawn by a toddler’s hand as they were. She’d called Eddie and shared the news with a smile. Her Danny was a dominant.

Now though, staring at the carefully printed words that were on Danny’s arm, Clara had to force herself to swallow through a suddenly dry throat. Two soulmates then. One older than him by eight years and one around his age. Both submissive to him. Clara took a steadying breath before gathering Danny to her chest and carefully tapping the writing.

“Look, sweetheart, your soulmate left you a message. Mommy will read it to you, okay? Tomorrow we’ll start teaching you to write so you can talk to him. It’s very important to talk to your soulmate as much as you can. For now though, mommy’s happy to read to you.”

* * *

 

Half a world away, Steve McGarrett ran into the house, raising his right arm and waving it in his father’s face. “Dad! What’s it say? What is it? Read it to me!”

John grabbed his son’s hand, steadying it so he could read the message written there. When he had read it twice, just to make sure that he was reading it right, John stared at his two year old son for several minutes.

Steve, so much like his mother, was already incredibly mature and serious for his age. It shouldn’t come as a surprise to John that his boy had an older soulmate, a submissive soulmate. Still, John had envisioned a few more years passing before he had to deal with this. He guarded his son’s innocence jealously. The idea of his little boy having to grow up, even a little bit, terrified him.

A tug from Steve reminded John that his son was still waiting for an answer. John bit back the urge to curse, smiling at his boy. “It’s a message from your soulmate, son. His name is Tony. He’s ten years old. He must have seen the shark that you drew earlier. He just wanted to say hi.”

Steve nodded solemnly, far too serious for such a little boy, then looked up at his father. “Will you teach me to read?”

* * *

 

As the years went by, Tony continued to write to his soulmates (Danny had written his first message six months after Steve’s shark had appeared), getting to know the boys he would someday spend his life with. There were rules about what you could write, philosophical junk that he had no hope of understanding, but it didn’t stop Tony from writing every night. He may not be able to put his last name or his location, but what he could say was more than enough for him.

While the boys were still young, born just a day apart, Tony kept it light. He told them about school, about the classes that he was taking. He told them about his friends, few and far between though they were. He wrote them the fairy tales he could remember his mother telling him at night, doing his best to sketch the pictures that he’d seen. It was almost like having younger brothers, having Steve and Danny to talk to. Boarding school got lonely sometimes. Being able to talk to his soulmates was the bright light in each of Tony’s days.

* * *

 

At fifteen, Tony wrote one of his first confessions of wrongdoing to his soulmates. ‘Sophie Perkins kissed me today. It was kind of nice until she told me that I’m too old for you to want me. She said that it’s sick, having kids as soulmates.’

Seven year old Danny, his most dominant soulmate, had written back in furious block letters, ‘OF COURSE WE WANT YOU. SOULMATES BELONG TOGETHER. SOPHIE PERKINS IS FARKAKT IN THE HEAD.’

‘Don’t let your mother see you writing that, Danny,’ Tony really felt like an older brother at times like that, when he was chiding his hot-headed dominant for something. ‘It isn’t a nice word.’

‘No, Danny’s right. She sounds like a real hūpō to me.’

‘Whatever that means, you should listen to Steve. And me, because I’m the boss.’

It had Tony smiling for hours after he’d finally sent Danny to sleep (wherever Steve was wasn’t in their time zone) tracing their indignant words until he too fell into Morpheus’s embrace.

* * *

 

When it came time for Tony to go to college, he was practically dancing with excitement. He’d told his soulmates about his scholarship to Ohio State, though he couldn’t name the school. When Steve, only ten at the time, had declared that he would break any records Tony set, Tony had laughed out loud in the middle of a lecture hall. Both of his soulmates swore up and down that they would record or watch every college ball game, since they didn’t know what school Tony went to. They even swore never to cheer for Michigan. It made Tony, who was sure that his own father didn’t even know that he was on the team, feel warm inside. If he played a little harder to show off for his soulmates, no one else ever knew about it.

* * *

 

When Tony was twenty, he pulled Jason King from a burning building, but he hadn’t been able to save the boy’s baby sister. That night in his hotel room, Tony, who tried so hard to be strong for his younger soulmates, broke down.

‘I couldn’t go back in,’ he wrote after explaining what had happened, ‘the flames were too strong. I couldn’t save her.’

‘My dad says that you did the write thing,’ Danny’s messy scrawl appeared on his wrist. ‘He says even he wouldn’t have gone into that building after you came out. The fire was too strong.’

‘You’re a hero, Tony,’ Steve’s typewriter perfect print wrapped around his elbow. ‘You saved someone today.’

‘I think I want to be a cop. It sure as hell beats the family business in a butcher shop with Uncle Vicenzo. Or whatever Sr is doing nowadays.’ Tony held his breath as he waited for one of his soulmates to reply. They were just twelve years old, and he’d just told them that he wanted to enter a potentially dangerous profession. What would they think? Would they tell him not to? He knew that each of their dads had dangerous jobs, but it was different when it was your soulmate, your submissive soulmate. When Danny’s words appeared, he let out a sigh of relief.

‘I think you’d be a great cop.’

* * *

 

Tony was twenty four when Steve’s mom died. He locked himself in his dorm, crying for the loss of a woman he had never met, a woman who was a complete stranger to him. Two days later, Tony raged against the world when Steve’s father sent him away. Never before had he cursed the mysterious forces that prevented them from giving their locations to each other. He would do anything to be with Steve then. There was no way around the strange magic of soulmates, though, no way to get to where Steve was. Tony and Danny both raged for days about the unfairness of it. They were only calmed by Steve’s request for them to drop it. Neither one of them wanted to upset Steve further.

When Steve started to pull away from them, not participating in the nightly conversations, Tony blamed the grief. He told himself that it would end in a few months, that Steve would write back to them. When it didn’t end, Tony blamed the anger, blamed Steve’s father, blamed anyone but Steve. He was only sixteen, Tony told himself. He couldn’t be expected to process his grief and anger as quickly as Tony’s irrational mind wanted him to.

* * *

 

When Tony was twenty six, he joined the police force in Peoria, Illinois. His congratulations from Danny were heartfelt, brought a smile to his face. Steve’s congratulations felt cold, distracted. Tony scrubbed at the words for three days before Steve washed them away.

* * *

 

Tony had just turned thirty when his soulmates and he decided to stop writing.

‘I joined the SEALs,’ Steve wrote, his script just a dad messier than usual. ‘We can’t write when I’m on missions. It could jeopardize all of us, our safety. Our nation.’

‘So what, you’re saying that you want us to stop writing because you can’t tell us when you’re on missions or when you’re at home because that’s classified? You’re saying you want us to give up the only form of communication we have with each other right now because you want to go out and play soldier?’ Even though Tony had never heard Danny’s voice, he could imagine the anger in it, the same anger that he was feeling.

‘Sailor, Danny. I’m a sailor. I joined the SEALs to serve our country, to do my part in keeping it safe. Part of that is that we have to stop writing. I wouldn’t be telling you that if I thought there was a way around it. This is to protect you.’

‘Do we get no say in this?’ Tony’s hand shook as he wrote. ‘We’re both cops. We could make up a secret code or something, some way to keep all of us safe, but still writing.’

‘Of course we don’t get a choice, Tone. Steve’s already made up his mind and the farkrumte idea he had is the one he’s going to stick with. Nevermind that there are two more people in this.’

‘I’m sorry Danny. Really, I am. When the time is right, I’ll find you. Both of you.’

* * *

 

For twelve years after that day, Tony never saw a single thing written on his arm, never bothered to write anything himself. He knew that if he did, no one would answer. Steve wouldn’t jeopardize his missions and Danny was angry, so angry at Steve and the entire situation. For the first time since he was ten, Tony was alone again.


	2. I ka hoʻopakeleʻana (To The Rescue)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It was brought to my attention that I fudged up the ages in chapter one. That has been fixed. Everyone's age should be right now. Just in case you're getting lost, here's a rough outline of what I had in mind as far as when things happen, the majority of it sticks to canon of both shows but any changes to canon are important to the plot of the story:  
> -1968: Tony is born  
> -1976: Steve and Danny are born  
> -1978: Steve writes on his arm  
> -1986: Tony goes to Ohio State  
> -1988: Tony saves Jason King in Baltimore  
> -1990: Doris McGarrett dies  
> -1994-1996: Tony in Peoria, Illinois  
> -1996-1998: Tony in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania  
> -1998: Steve joins the SEALS  
> -1998-2000: Tony undercover  
> -2000-2002: Tony in Baltimore, Maryland  
> -2002: Grace Williams born  
> -2002-2010: Tony at NCIS  
> -2010: Story starts

'You have a kid.' Tony jumped as he felt the almost forgotten sensation of writing on his arm, forcing himself to reach up and scratch his shoulder when Ziva narrowed her beady eyes at him. 'You were married.'

Even after twelve years, Tony recognized Steve's handwriting. His heart leapt into his throat as he realized what this meant. Steve had found Danny. Steve wasn't a SEAL anymore.   


'Of course I have a kid, you saw her with your own two eyes. What, you expected me to put my life on hold for you? Expected me to wait like some virgin locked up in a tower? You left us, Steve, decided that keeping us in your life was too dangerous. I moved on. I got married. I had a kid. Are you going to be angry if Tony did the same? If he had a life while you were gone?'   


Tony knew that this was his opening, a chance for him to tell Steve about his amazing life, to tell Steve that he'd lived just as much as Danny had. Yet he couldn't bring himself to lie, to tell them that he'd had serious relationships. Other than Jeanne, anyone he'd been with had been casual, his desperate attempt to fill the void that had consumed him for twelve years. He definitely hadn't moved on like Danny had. Some part of him had been holding out for his soulmates to find him, or for him to find them. He’d never bothered investing himself in a relationship with anyone else because they weren’t Steve and Danny. They weren’t important.   
Gripping his pen almost tight enough to break it, he wrote carefully, arms hidden below his desk, 'what's her name?'

Not wanting to have any more of this conversation in front of Ziva’s prying eyes and McGee’s innate curiosity, Tony stood up, straightening his jacket sleeves so that none of the writing on his arm was visible. “I’m making a coffee run. Get you anything?”

“No thank you,” Ziva eyed him suspiciously, trying to figure out what had changed in the last five minutes, “Is everything alright? You seem… jumpish.”

“Jumpy, Ziva. The word you’re looking for is jumpy, which I am not. I’ve been staring at a computer screen for two hours. I need a break. Can I get you anything, McGeek?”

McGee looked up from his computer and shook his head, forcing himself to concentrate on the conversation. “Um, no. I’m headed home soon. Thanks, though.”

Tony nodded at McGee, grabbed his gun, and headed to the elevator. He needed to talk to his soulmates somewhere private, somewhere far away from the distrustful eyes of Ziva David and the wavering confusion of Timothy McGee. After the changes that had taken place in their team dynamic, the last thing Tony wanted was for them to know that he had soulmates. He wasn’t comfortable giving them that sort of weakness. There was no telling what Ziva would do with that information. Part of him, a voice that sounded far too like Kate, told Tony that it wasn’t right to distrust his team like this, that there was something broken in their dynamic, but he ignored it. He had more important things to do.

Secreted away in his car, Tony tugged his jacket off so that he could see what Steve and Danny had written while he was exiting the building.

‘What’s her name? You just found out that your soulmate has a kid and you’re not angry?’

‘Unlike you, Steven, Tony doesn’t seem to expect that I put my life on hold while you were off being a soldier. It’s been twelve years, Steve, and it would’ve been longer if you hadn’t shanghaied me into joining your little task force. You weren’t looking for us; you weren’t going to look for us. We couldn’t even look for each other without endangering you. Of course I moved on. Any rational person would have.’

Danny’s rant took up most of Tony’s arm, the angry letters almost bleeding into his skin. Tony read it carefully, swallowing the lump in his throat. Steve hadn’t gone looking for Danny. He’d found him on accident. Steve hadn’t decided that it was time to be with his soulmates. He could still choose to leave again, once he’d finished whatever he and Danny were doing with this task force. Tony forced himself to take a deep breath before touching his pen to his skin.

‘I think we all need to get together. This isn’t a talk that we can have when we’re apart. Can you find me if I give you some hints?’ Once again, Tony cursed the forces that prevented him from giving his last name or location, the same forces that would stop him from giving Gibbs’ name, or anyone else connected to the Washington NCIS office. Soulmates were supposed to meet by fate, not by forcing it. Still, he would try.

‘Tell us what you can.’ Danny’s scrawl was on the back of his right hand. ‘We’ll find you.’

‘I work for NCIS.’

* * *

 

Over the month that followed that first conversation, Tony spent hours talking to Danny and Steve after work each night. He learned what each of his soulmates had been doing over the years, what had changed in their lives. All three of them had led dangerous lives, it seemed, although Danny swore up and down that his life had been perfectly safe until Steve walked into it.

‘Just getting in the car with you could mean the end of my life. You drive like a total maniac. It’s like you have a death wish or something. I’ve never feared for my life as much as I do when I’m in a car with you. That’s not even mentioning the dumb stunts you pull!’

‘You’re exaggerating, Danny. You’ve been perfectly safe with me most of the times I’ve driven your car.’

‘Most, he says, like it doesn’t take just once to end the fragile thing that is my life.’

If Tony had been a teenage girl, he probably would have giggled at Danny’s snark, but he wasn’t a teenage girl; he was a forty two year old man. As such, he just smiled wryly, wishing that he was wherever his soulmates were instead of sitting alone in an apartment in D.C. Steve said that he had a friend in NCIS searching through all of the Tonys in the NCIS database, but it would still take time. There were a lot of people in the database. In the meantime, conversations like this, each of them in his own home, helped to bring them all closer together, closing the gap that had grown in the twelve years of silence. They talked about all sorts of things, without going too deeply into the details, reacquainting with each other.

Some topics were waiting for when they were all together in person, the things that just couldn’t be written. Steve’s years in the SEALs, Danny’s marriage and subsequent divorce, the majority of Tony’s life at NCIS were all things that none of them felt ready to talk about. What could they say when the mysterious forces that be prevented so much? No, it was far better to hold off on the deep stuff until they were together. For now, what they had was more than enough. Tony had his soulmates back. He hardly cared about the small details.

* * *

 

It was the middle of October when Tony came to the conclusion that he couldn’t wait any longer for Steve’s friend to find him, powers that be be damned. Tony had known for some time, since things went down with Rivkin, that things weren’t right with the team, hadn’t been right with the team for a while. He’d been doing his best to ignore it, doing his best to hold on to the one thing that kept him going without his soulmates in the picture, but he couldn’t do it anymore. He couldn’t be forced to stay on this team, to be surrounded by people who viewed their personal problems with him as more important than the job at hand.

‘They turned off the comms,’ Tony practically stabbed his arm in anger as he wrote. ‘We’re investigating a domestic terrorist cell and they turned off the comms while I was in the field alone. Anything could have happened to me and they never would have known.’

Tony slammed his fist into his locker as he dropped the pen, needing the violent act to ground himself. Though he’d laughed it off in the car, Tony hardly felt like laughing now. This was no laughing matter.

His backup had allowed communication to be cut off, had cut it off themselves. If something had gone wrong, if Tony had raised the suspicions of anyone in that little subdivision, no one nearby would have been around to make sure he got out of there alive. The betrayal that he felt, the stark cold realization that his life meant so little to them, it threatened to overwhelm him.

‘Tony,’ he glanced down when he felt the tingling on his arm, ‘calm down. Sam thinks he found you. Danny and Gracie are on their way to get you. Just give them a day. I promise they’ll be there soon. You’re coming home to us.’

‘I don’t need rescued.’ Years of stubborn determination had him writing it, ‘I’m just pissed at their lack of professionalism. Don’t send the cavalry just because I’m pissed.’

‘We aren’t sending the cavalry because you’re pissed. We’re coming to get you because you belong with us. Stop being stupid, Tony.’ Even with his anger, Tony couldn’t help but smile at Danny’s statement. ‘You just hold tight. Monkey and I are on our way.’

‘I’ll see you soon, Tony.’

When Tony left the locker room and returned to his desk, he breathed easier, determined to finish this case. No matter what his team did the next day, Tony would be leaving NCIS soon. He imagined that he would probably join whatever task force Danny and Steve were on. Vance would probably jump at this opportunity to kick him out of NCIS. It didn’t matter. This place had stopped feeling like home years ago, long before Steve and Danny had walked back into his life. Tony had stuck it out because he was tired of running from place to place, tired of having to learn a new city, a new team. Even the idea of leading his own team wasn’t enough of a draw to make him leave the comfort of his routine. His soulmates, however, were the one thing that could make him willingly leave NCIS.

The thought of finally being with his soulmates after forty two years of waiting was enough to put a spring in his step, despite the levity of this case and his sore throat. He had some homegrown terrorists to catch.

* * *

 

“Danno, what are we doing here?” Gracie looked up at the bland office building in front of her, wrinkling her nose in disdain. “I thought you were taking me to the zoo. You promised, Danno.”

“And I will keep that promise,” Danny knelt down with a pained grunt, his bad leg extended, and grabbed both of Gracie’s hands, meeting her eyes. “First, daddy needs to go get someone who’s very important to daddy and Uncle Steve, okay? Do you think you can help me with that?” He waited for her to nod before struggling back to his feet, leaning heavily on his cane. “There’s my monkey. Come on baby.”

Together, Danny and Grace made their way to the security desk, stopping so that Danny could pull out his badge, setting it in front of the guard. “Detective Danny Williams, Five-0. This is my daughter Grace. We have a meeting with the director.”

The security officer took a moment to check his list of expected visitors before nodding and handing over two passes. “If you go up to the squad room, the director has someone waiting for you there.”

Danny nodded his thanks to the guard before leading Grace to the elevator. He rolled up his sleeves as they waited for the elevator car, pulling out a pen.

“Okay monkey, when the elevator opens, there’s going to be a man named Tony there. He’s very important to daddy and Uncle Steve, so I want you to be very polite to him, okay? I have to go talk to his boss, so I’m going to leave you with Tony for a few minutes.”

Grace nodded her understanding as she watched her Danno write on his arm. She’d seen the writing that was there before, though she’d never seen Danno actively writing. Her mommy and Step Stan wrote on their arms in front of her all the time, especially if they wanted to talk about something they didn’t want her to know about, but Danno never did that. He’d always told her that his time with her was more important than anything he could write on his arm. Until last month, when Danno met Uncle Steve, Danno had never had the writing. If he was writing on his arm now, this mysterious Tony must be very important. It was enough to make Grace excited to meet this stranger.

The elevator dinged as Danno put the pen away, reaching down to take Gracie’s hand. “It’s showtime, Monkey.”

* * *

 

‘Come show me who the director is.’

Tony frowned in confusion at the message Danny had written, almost jumping when Gibbs cleared his throat behind him.

“Is there a problem, DiNozzo?”

“No problem, boss. Just lost my train of thought.” Tony moved out of Gibbs’ way, sidestepping towards the elevator. “I just remembered that the director asked me to do something for him, so I’ll be right back.”

He got to the elevator just as the doors slid open, revealing a stocky man and a little girl. Tony took a minute to observe the amused look in the man’s eyes, the way his shirt bulged over his pecs like his muscles were not to be contained, the biceps that put most athletes to shame, and the writing that matched what he himself had on his wrist. When he had figured out who the man was, Tony felt a genuine smile slipping onto his face as he turned all of his attention to the child at his side.

“Good morning, Princess Grace.” His grin intensified as the girl smiled back at him. “Did your Danno drag you all the way to D.C. just to see me?”

She nodded, leaning against Danny’s side just a small bit. “Uncle Steve says it’s my job to make sure that Danno doesn’t hurt his knee again.”

“Oh, he’s the one who causes the injury and he acts like it’s my fault. And you believe him,” Danny shook his head with easy fondness. “Some loyalty.”

Tony, rather than feeling like he was standing in front of a stranger, was overwhelmed by the sense of the familiar as he talked to Danny. He’d spent thirty two years of his life knowing that Danny and Steve existed, that they were out there waiting for him. He’d watched their personalities develop as they grew up. Having Danny here now felt natural, felt right. It was something Tony had waited years for.

Focusing on Danny again, Tony nodded towards the stairs, ignoring the assessing glances of his team. Whatever they had to say could wait until after Tony knew what was going on. “I’ll take you to the Director’s office. Come on.”

He turned to lead Danny and Grace across the room, praying that no one would stop their progress. For once, he didn’t have a prepared response to make Gibbs and Ziva feel like they knew all of his secrets. It made him uneasy, the exposed feeling that came over him. Nothing good, in regards to his team, could come from Gibbs and Ziva discovering that he had soulmates. There was a reason he’d never mentioned them before.

“DiNozzo,” Tony winced as Gibbs stepped in front of him, blocking his path. If ever there was a time that Gibbs’ demeanor screamed territorial marine, this was it. “What are you doing?”

He knew that tone of voice. Combined with the glare being aimed at Danny, it was the vocal equivalent of Gibbs pissing on his favorite tree to keep other dogs away. Tony did not see this ending well.

“Excuse me,” Danny pushed his way in front of Tony, holding out his hand to Gibbs. “Hi. Detective Danny Williams. I’m with Hawai’i Five-0, the governor’s task force. This is my daughter Grace. We’re here to deliver an OPNAVIST in regards to Lt. Commander Steve McGarrett to Director Vance.”

“What’s a cop doing delivering orders for the CNO?” If anything, Danny’s introduction had only served to increase the possessive vibes that were coming off of Gibbs. “Last time I checked, LEOs aren’t military.”

Danny stuffed his hands into his pockets, rocking back on his heels and nodding. “See, usually you’d be right, but when the sailor involved in something like this has found his dominant soulmate, if he has one, it’s that person’s right to intercede on his behalf. Since I am, in fact, Commander McGarrett’s dominant soulmate, I have every right to be here in his place while he’s back in Hawai’i. Now if you’ll excuse us, I have a meeting to go to.”

Danny led Grace around Gibbs, leaving Tony no choice but to follow. An unstoppable grin spread on Tony’s face as he joined Danny and Grace. He’d read Danny’s scoldings and corrections of both himself and Steve before, but actually seeing it happen in person was something completely surreal, especially when Gibbs was his target.”

“What’s the OPNAVIST?” Just as they were stepping onto the stairs, Gibbs spoke again, not turning to face them. Tony bit back a curse, mindful of the little girl at his side. He really did not want Gibbs knowing what he suspected the orders were.

Danny turned to face the bullpen, eyes meeting the gazes of the MCRT. “Immediate reassignment of his submissive due to his teammates’ willful failure to follow procedure and subsequent endangerment of his life.”   
Gibbs turned around so fast that Tony’s head hurt in sympathy for a second before he saw the look in his boss’s eyes and cringed. This was going to be unpleasant. “DiNozzo. Anything you want to tell me?”

His first instinct was to cover for Ziva and McGee, to take the blame for this like he usually did. When he met Danny’s eyes, he found that he couldn’t do it, he couldn’t take the fall for them when his soulmates had gone through all this trouble to find him. When his eyes connected in turn with McGee’s, Ziva’s, and Gibbs’, Tony’s were cold sea green ice, devoid of the humor usually found there.

“McGee and Ziva came very close to breaking rule number one when I was collecting voice samples yesterday.”

Tony continued his ascent up the stairs as McGee and Ziva raised their voices in protest, not stopping until he had led Danny into Cynthia’s office. He knew that he was going to have to deal with the fallout from his statement, but he would take that as it came.

“So,” Danny nudged his side, “Care to explain what rule number one is?”

When the answer came, it wasn’t from Tony, but from the other side of the room. “Never screw over your partner.”

“Director,” Tony nodded at Vance, placing one hand on Grace’s shoulder as Danny stepped forward. “Permission to give young Miss Williams a tour of the building? That is, if I’m not needed?”

“Go on, DiNozzo. Pack your desk while you’re at it. You’re being reassigned to Pearl Harbor, effective immediately.”

Tony froze, surprise written all over his face. He’d known, after what Danny said downstairs, that he would be leaving the MCRT, but he’d expected that Danny would be pulling him from NCIS entirely, or that Vance would use it as an opportunity to fire him. “Sir?”

“It has come to my attention recently that there is an alarming lack of communication between NCIS and the Honolulu Police Department,” Vance explained, pulling a toothpick out of his pocket and rotating it in his fingers. “I’m assigning you as my NCIS liaison with both HPD and the newly founded Five-0 division.”

“Liaison, Director? What exactly would my duties as liaison be?” This was not what Tony had pictured when Danny had squared off against Gibbs downstairs. Tony was sure that Vance was going to fire him, that this was the last of his days at NCIS.

“You will assist HPD and Five-0 with any case involving naval personnel or family members or involving JBPHH. You will be directly responsible for any charges raised by or against all naval personnel and family members. When your assistance is not needed on cases relating to any normal NCIS duties, you are to remain with Five-0 and assist them with their workload. Any questions?”

“No, sir. No questions.”

“Good. You can go now. We’ll be done in an hour or so. Cynthia, call Gibbs up here. Detective Williams, if you’ll follow me,” Vance stuck the toothpick on the left side of his mouth, leading Danny into his office and leaving Grace and Tony behind.

“Tell me, Princess Grace,” Tony forced his attention to the little girl. “Do you know what a goth is?”

* * *

 

“Vance, what the hell is this about?” Gibbs pushed open the door to the director’s office with rude impatience, crossing the room and leaning across Vance’s desk. “First my team is accused of a breach in protocol and now DiNozzo is being reassigned? I told you not to mess with my team, Leon.”

“Sit down, Gibbs, and listen for once in your miserable life.” Vance waited for Gibbs to sit in the empty chair to Danny’s right before leaning forward and adjusting his jacket. “It has come to my attention that, during an active investigation into a group suspected of terrorism, Agents McGee and David turned off the only line of communication that Agent DiNozzo had established.”

“Come on, Leon.” Gibbs rolled his eyes. “They shouldn’t have turned it off, but nothing happened. DiNozzo was fine.”

“I have the recording that Special Agent DiNozzo handed over to Miss Sciuto right here,” Vance placed the recorder on his desk where the two men in front of him could see it. “DiNozzo recorded up until they left the Royal Woods subdivision, as he should have. I want you to listen to the final minutes of the recording and then you can tell me whether or not Agents McGee and David were out of line with their behavior.”

Danny leaned forward in anticipation, eager to know what Tony’s teammates had to say as an excuse. Even before Steve had swept him away to Five-0, the other members of HPD had never left him without backup when they were with him,  _ haole  _ or not. For people that Tony had worked with for years to abandon him… they better have a damn good reason to do so. As far as Danny was concerned, it was inexcusable no matter what their personal differences were.

“This concludes Royal Woods voice sample collection,” came Tony’s voice, hoarse from what Danny assumed was hours of talking. “Returning to the car now.”

“What happened to you?” Danny didn’t recognize the voice, but it must belong to one of Tony’s teammates.

“Don’t play dumb,” the slight crack in Tony’s voice was obvious, “You reveled in every minute of my suburban suffering.”

“Actually, no, we’ve been not listening for the last couple hours.” Danny wanted to punch the man behind that dopey tone in the jaw. No one should sound so clueless about their own idiocy.

“One can only stand your voice for so long.” Danny grit his teeth at the prim annoyance in the woman’s voice, like Tony had somehow inconvenienced her by doing his job. He was grateful in that moment that Steve was working a kidnapping recovery in Hawai’i and not here. Danny couldn’t guarantee that Steve wouldn’t have resorted to violence against this team. “Did you talk to everyone?”

“Maybe if you had been listening you would know,” Danny mumbled over Tony’s reply, ignoring the glare being shot at him from the man in the next seat. He could respect a man who wanted to protect his team, but not when it was obvious that they were in the wrong.   
Vance stopped the recording and cleared his throat, drawing their attention back to him. “As you can imagine, the CNO was less than impressed when Commander McGarrett called him yesterday afternoon, claiming that his submissive had been endangered by members of an NCIS team and demanding that an order be drawn up to have his submissive transferred to Hawai’i and the Five-0. Not even ten minutes later, Special Agent Hanna called me to tell me that he suspected DiNozzo was his friend’s submissive. After listening to this recording, I can agree with the Commander’s assessment that Agents McGee and David willfully created a situation where Agent DiNozzo was left without backup in a potentially hostile situation. Do you disagree, Gibbs?”

Danny glanced over at the surly man sitting next to him, watching the way Gibbs’ arms tensed like he was barely containing his anger. Gibbs turned hard blue eyes on him, clearly determining whether or not Danny measured up to his expectations.

“If you’re so concerned about DiNozzo’s safety, where were you for the past eight years? I didn’t see you marching into NCIS any time that he was actually hurt. Why are you here now? Why has he never said anything about you before? DiNozzo brags about women he flirts with in bars. He would have mentioned soulmates.”

Danny grit his teeth, glaring coldly at Gibbs. “Commander McGarrett has been a Navy SEAL for twelve years. From his first day of training to our chance meeting a month ago, there has been no contact between the three of us. We cut contact to keep Steve safe in the field. If Tony never mentioned us, it was probably to protect Steve. We had no idea what sort of situations Tony was in, otherwise he would have been removed from your team long before his partners chose to leave him without backup.”

“Gentlemen,” Vance called their attention back to him, removing the toothpick from his mouth and leveled his gaze on them. “The behavior of DiNozzo’s soulmates is not why I called you here. Effective immediately, Special Agent DiNozzo has been reassigned to Pearl Harbor. Additionally, Agents McGee and David have been suspended without pay while a review board goes over their cases for the past year. What happened yesterday is inexcusable and will not happen again. I suggest, Agent Gibbs, that you get your team back in shape. You can go now.”

Gibbs looked like he wanted to argue for a minute before standing up and leaving the room silently, ignoring the other two people entirely. Danny almost felt bad for the guy. Losing his senior agent and the rest of the team being placed on suspension, it was enough to drive a saint to anger. If it had been Danny's team, he'd be out for blood.

“I assume that you have a plan for moving DiNozzo across the country?”

Danny nodded, leaning back in his chair and relaxing now that Gibbs and his air of bitter anger had left. “My team just finished dealing with a kidnapping case. They got on a plane this morning. Together, we'll have him packed in no time.”

Vance nodded and stood, buttoning his suit jacket as he walked around his desk. “I wish that DiNozzo’s transfer came under better circumstances. He's an asset to this agency. Please let me know if there's anything I can do to help while you're in D.C.”

Danny followed Vance out of his office, thanking him for the help before heading to the stairs. It was time to get Tony and Grace. They could head to the zoo for the afternoon before picking the rest of the Five-0 up from the airport. Some time to get to know Tony, time for Grace to spend with both of them, was exactly what he needed.

* * *

 

“Tony!” Abby engulfed him in a hug as soon as he entered the lab, holding him close. It never failed to make him smile when Abby hugged him. It was like hugging a favorite sibling. “You brought me a friend!" She pulled away from him to smile at Grace, holding out her hand to the little girl. "Hi. I'm Abby. What's your name?"  


"This is Princess Grace," Tony touched her shoulder lightly, unsure of whether or not it was okay with her. "I thought maybe you could show her some cool science while her dad's in a meeting with the director."

He shrugged awkwardly, turning a sheepish smile to Abby. He wasn't good with kids, never had been. He knew that. Gracie was his soulmate's kid though, so Tony had to do his best to make her happy, to make her like him. He didn't want to think about what would happen if she didn't like him. It wasn't an option.

Abby, being the amazingly saintly woman she was, had Gracie completely absorbed in a project that involved making a battery out of a piece of pottery in minutes. When Grace was comfortable working alone, Abby returned to Tony's side, leaning against the counter next to him.

"Who is she?"

"My soulmate's daughter," even as he said it, Tony could hardly believe that it was true, that Danny and Grace were really here, ready to sweep him off to Hawai'i. "I'm leaving, Abs."

Strong arms wrapped around him, pulling him into a tight hug. Of all the people Tony counted as friends, only Abby knew about Steve and Danny. Kate had known too, when she was alive. Tony couldn't have told Abby without telling her soulmate. It was a secret he'd never imagined keeping from the two women. Without Abby, Tony probably would have left NCIS after Kate's death. Together, the two of them had held each other up, had kept each other strong. Abby and Tony had formed a team within the team, their own family.

Long minutes passed before Abby let go of him, hand brushing his gently. "You'll be great, Tony, wherever you go. I know it."

He had to smile at the picture she made, this beautiful and mature vision in black that so few people saw. Abby was a master of deception when she wanted to be, a professional actress. If anyone else had walked in on this scene, they would have expected her to be crying, to be throwing a tantrum. Tony knew better. He knew the changes she'd gone through when Kate died, knew that she'd been forced to let go of her childish illusions in that painful instance. The childish and selfish goth that she had once been was long gone, replaced with this wonderful woman, the best friend he could ever ask for. Abby had taken her devastation and used it to become a better version of herself, to become someone they both thought Kate would be proud of.

"Hey, I've got Grace," Her voice was soft, her smile understanding. Abby always had seen through his masks without effort. "You go pack your desk up. We're fine down here. I'll bring her upstairs in a little while. You need some time."

"Thanks, Abs," he pulled her close and kissed her temple. "You're the best friend a guy could have.

* * *

 

 

Just one more hour. Sixty minutes. Three thousand six hundred second. Eight years of back breaking, life threatening, excruciating work would come to an end in just one more hour. For a man who- prior to that day eight years ago- had never stayed in one place for more than two years (two years, one month, and twenty three days) that final hour felt more like the countdown to his execution than the start of a new chapter.

Tony preferred not to think about the circumstances that led to this melancholy watch he found himself keeping. Not because he was sad to leave, necessarily, but because he hated to be rescued, hated that he had allowed things to get so bad- to reach a point that an outsider was capable of seeing just how fractured his team had become. Even if that outsider was his soulmate, Tony never should have allowed his vigilance to slip up enough to expose the injury that would shatter his team. He was a DiNozzo, dammit; he was stronger than this.

“Tony?” The sweetest little voice on the planet broke through his self reprimanding thoughts. “Abby brought me back up here to see if I could help you pack. What are you doing?”

“Well, Princess Grace,” Tony grasped the eight year old by the waist and lifted her onto his desk, “I was just thinking about how happy I am to be moving to Hawai’i with you and your dad.”

“You don't look happy,” she was observant, that was for sure, “you look like you were thinking about sad things. Are you sad that Danno’s your soulmate? Uncle Steve was sad that Danno's his soulmate, but mommy says that he was only sad because his dad died, not because of Danno. Did someone die? Is that why you're sad?”

“No one died, Princess,” Tony sighed, resisting the urge to pinch the bridge of his nose. It wasn't Gracie's fault that Tony had mixed feelings about leaving the team. Even with the changes that had happened on the team since the Rivkin ordeal, this was his team, had been his family. The thought of leaving it all behind was terrifying. “Sometimes major life changes make people a little sad, even when they're happy.”

“So you aren't sad that you're moving to Hawai'i with us?”

Gracie looked so concerned that Tony couldn't help but crack a wide grin. “Are you kidding me? I love Hawai'i! The surf, the sand, the sights! Hawai'i is a fantastic place.”

Gracie looked so relieved that Tony mentally patted himself on the back. Maybe dealing with kids wasn't as hard as he'd always thought. Gracie seemed to like him well enough. Before his self congratulatory mood could go too far, a shrill and unwelcome voice filled the bullpen, far louder than it needed to be.

“It is unfortunate for you that your soulmates won't allow you to run free among all the ‘beach babes’ that are bound to be there. How will you survive without making a new conquest every week?”

Gracie had a look of confused indignation that told Tony that he needed to intercede before the little girl blurted anything out. Carefully standing, Tony rounded his desk and stepped up to Ziva’s, tapping his knuckles on the laminate.

“In case you hadn't noticed, Probationary Agent David, my soulmate’s daughter is sitting right across the room from you. I don't care what you think about me, but you will apologize to Grace for talking about her father like that.”

“I fail to see what I have said wrong about Detective Williams simply by stating the truth of your womanizing ways,” Ziva looked so haughty, so proud of herself, that Tony wanted to punch her. “She deserves to know the truth of who you are.”

Tony raised an eyebrow at her, straightening up and turning to Grace, pulling a couple of dollars out of his pocket. “Princess Grace, could you do me a favor and go buy us some snacks while I speak with agent David?” He waited until Grace had disappeared around the corner before turning back to Ziva. “Now where were we? Oh, I remember. You were claiming that you hadn't spoken poorly about my soulmate when you insinuated that he was controlling, or that I might have a desire to be unfaithful to said soulmate. How exactly are those things not you speaking poorly about Danny?”

“You are taking this far too seriously,” the way Ziva brushed him off made Tony want to growl. “Is it not you who is always telling jokes of that sort? It was merely a joke, that is all.”

“Soulmates aren't something you joke about, David. They're something precious, almost sacred. I would have expected that even you would understand that, even without a soulmate of your own. Regardless of your opinion of me, you have no right to talk about my soulmates like that. Understand this, Ziva David, I would never cheat on Danny and Steve. What I did in the past is just that, in the past. If you ever say something like that in front of Grace again I'll show you exactly why Gibbs chose me over you in Israel.” 

Satisfied that his point had been made, Tony returned to his desk, smiling at Grace when she handed him a bag of chips. He ate his snacks with the girl, listening to her talk about Hawai'i, about her school, about all the cool things that Uncle Steve was teaching her to do. The entire time, she helped him pack away the past eight years of his life into office boxes, stopping occasionally to ask questions about what everything was. It was relaxing, spending this time alone with the little girl.

“You two look cozy,” Tony looked up to see a proud smile on Danny's face as he watched Grace play keep away with Tony's Mighty Mouse stapler. “Are you ready to go? I promised Grace a trip to the zoo before we pick the rest of the team up from the airport. You mind having a bunch of crazy people over for dinner?”

“Nah,” Tony plucked the stapler out of the distracted girl's hands and put it in a box. “I'll invite Palmer and Ducky, Abby already invited herself over earlier. It'll be a party. Come on, Princess Grace, I'll show you where all the best animals are.”

Without glancing at his coworkers, Tony picked up his boxes and led the way to the elevator, leaving behind this chapter of his life and starting a new one. It was time to move on.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Translations  
> OPNAVIST-An OPNAVINST or OPNAV Instruction is a formally documented lawful order that is issued by the Chief of Naval Operations. These instructions are typically used to establish United States Navy policy, procedures, and requirements. The instructions are issued in the form of a memorandum on official Department of the Navy letterhead. Each instruction is referenced with an OPNAVINST directive number and a date.  
> CNO- Chief of Naval Operations  
> JBPHH- Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam. Pearl Harbor Naval Base and Hickam Air Force Base merged in 2010.  
> haole- Mainlander, person of European descent


	3. Ohana(family)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was difficult to write. Steve didn't want to cooperate until after Tuesday's episode of NCIS left me enraged. Then he jumped right on board.  
> Some things of note before we begin:  
> -I took some liberties with Tony's apartment and furnishings because I can.  
> -Tony's piano is a Fazioli Model F278, I highly suggest you look at it.  
> -Di Fara's was on top of several different 'Best Pizza in New York' websites. I have never been to New York, so I'm not sure. If someone can weigh in on that, you are more than welcome to.  
> -Shoutout to whoever figures out who Gracie's soulmate is first.

Tony had never gone to the zoo much when he was a kid. Before his mother died, he was surrounded by private tutors who sought to teach him how to be refined, a member of the peerage. Even if he never stood a chance of inheriting the family title, she had felt that it was important that he be able to blend. Daily life consisted of etiquette lessons, Latin, Italian, French, ballroom dance, piano lessons. The list went on and on. The only slip up from the neverending parade of lessons had been the weekly trips to that small movie theatre in Soho, the Thursday afternoon excursions that Tony had come to depend on. Caroline DiNozzo nee Paddington had expectations of her son, expectations that did not include gawking at animals in cages. After her death, dear old dad had shipped him off to boarding school to learn all the things he deemed important for the scion of the DiNozzo family to know. Zoology hadn’t been one of those things. Abby and he would take a trip to the zoo every once in awhile to check on the rehabilitation programs that they ran, but she objected to keeping animals in captivity, so they didn’t go often.

Going to the zoo with Grace and Danny wasn’t like anything Tony had ever done before. He’d expected Grace to be like the other kids there, running from exhibit to exhibit with a fleeting attention span. She didn’t do that. Sure, she still ran to each enclosure, but Grace took the time to read each description, turning question after question on Danny and Tony. It didn’t take long for Tony to be just as absorbed in the adventure as she was, sharing stories about the different animals he’d had encounters with during his time at NCIS. His recounting of the encounter with the iguana in Cuba had both Danny and Grace laughing at him as he exclaimed offense in a high voice. Unlike the over exaggerated stories he had told to his teammates at NCIS, this felt natural, not forced. He loved the way Danny and Grace both lit up when their amusement was true, not the faked laughter he’d grown accustomed to over the years.

“She likes you,” Danny brushed up against Tony’s side, a proud gleam in his eyes as he looked over at Grace. The girl was carefully concentrating on drawing the frolicking pandas on her arm, paying far more attention to detail than most eight year olds could be bothered with. “Grace is a good judge of character. It took her months to warm up to StepStan after he married Rachel. She already likes you more than him.”

“She’s a smart kid,” Tony shrugged a dismissal of the compliment to himself, focusing on Grace instead. “She knows that I’m not going to try and replace you or Rachel in her life. It’s a lot easier to like someone when they aren’t a risk like that. Give her more time to know that there’s no way Stan could ever replace you and she’ll get used to him. It’s a lot easier to like someone new when your parents make sure that they don’t overstep their bounds.” He shook off the unpleasant thoughts of his own stepmothers (there had been at least four before he’d gone to college) and focused on Grace again. “Does she know who her soulmate is?”

It was a common question to ask parents, especially when the children were writing on their arms in public. The way that Danny grimaced answered it for Tony, speaking volumes on how he felt about the subject. His distaste for the thought of his Monkey having a soulmate was loud and clear. Even his stance changed at the question, one hand going to the empty spot on his belt where his gun usually rested. “His name is Parker. He’s a year older than her. He either wants to be a cop or a scientist. From what Grace tells me, it seems like it changes weekly. She hasn’t met him yet, and if I have anything to say about it, she won’t meet him until she’s forty.”

“It could be worse,” Tony said as nonchalantly as possible. “He could be eight years older than her.” If there was just a tad of self loathing in his voice, it was pure coincidence. Even he knew that he technically had no blame in the age difference between them. He couldn’t control when he was born or who fate stuck him with. “It had to have been hard on your parents, discovering that your soulmate was almost a decade older than you.”

“Actually, my mom loved you. She used to read me the stories you would write every night. The way she told it, you came along just at the right time. She was running out of stories to tell me, but I loved hearing about your day, so she would sit there and carefully read everything you told me that day. After Matty and the girls got older, it sorta became family tradition. I learned to read by telling my siblings your stories. You were their favorite person. Bridgett was convinced that she was going to marry you for years. She was devastated when her own soulmate finally sent her a message, swore that he wasn’t nearly as awesome as you were and she wouldn’t marry him. They’ve been married for five years now. Dino loves to tease her about it.” He reached out and placed his hand on Tony’s back, half afraid that the contact would scare the older man away. When Tony relaxed into the touch instead of flinching away from it, Danny rewarded him with a quick rub. “Don’t worry, babe. My family’s not going to hate you for being older than me. You’re going to be just fine.”

Grace ran back to join them then, gap-toothed grin lighting up the entire zoo. “Parker knows so much about animals! He was telling me all about the pandas. He’s way smarter than the boys at school.”  
“Smarter than the boys at school, huh?” Danny nodded slowly, arms crossing in mock affront, “What about your Danno? Is he smarter than your Danno?”

“Well,” Grace had a playful glint in her eyes as she shrugged, voice completely innocent, “he does know a lot about pandas. Do you know a lot about pandas Danno?”

“Do I know a lot about pandas?” Danny threw his hands up in the air, incredulity lacing his words. “She wants to know if I know a lot about pandas. Of course I know a lot about pandas. You know what I know about pandas? I know that any animal dumb enough to live hundreds of miles from its only source of food deserves to be on the endangered species list, that’s what I know. Does your buddy Parker know that?”

“Danno,” Grace giggled at him. “Parker was telling me happy things about the pandas, not sad things. Can we go look at the monkeys now or do we have to pick Uncle Steve up from the airport?”

“Of course we’re going to look at the monkeys!” Danny picked the girl up and held her close in a hug. “We might find some of your cousins hiding out over there. Your Uncle Steve will drive himself because he is a control freak who cannot stand other people driving, even in their own cars, but we will need to figure out what we’re going to feed the team. You know how much your Aunt Kono can eat. Maybe Tony knows a proper pizza place we can go to, one that knows better than to ruin a perfectly good pizza by putting pineapple on it.”

“Actually,” Tony shrugged as casually as he could, forcing nonchalance into his voice, “if you want, I can make pizza at my place. No one in town gets the crust as good as Di Fara does, but I’ve got a few tricks up my sleeve.”

“The man knows his pizza!” Danny turned so that he and Grace were facing Tony, a wide grin lighting up his features. “From now on, Monkey, you have a new rule to follow. Only listen to Uncle Tony about pizza. Your Uncle Steve knows nothing about a proper pizza.”

Danny’s rant on what real food consisted of continued through the rest of their walk through the zoo and the trip back to their cars. With Danny and Grace in the car following him, Tony couldn’t say whether or not the rant carried over to the short drive to his apartment, but he imagined that it did. Danny liked to rant just for the sake of ranting.

* * *

 

A bubble of anticipation filled Tony as they pulled into the parking garage for his building. After years of longing and waiting, he was finally going to be with both of his soulmates. He was finally going to have them to come home to. He wasn’t going to be alone anymore. For the first time in forever, Tony was truly happy. It defied logic, especially considering the circumstances that had brought about this situation, but Tony truly was happy. He had a chance to be with his soulmates. What happened with Ziva and McGee hardly mattered in comparison to that.

“You have a concert grand piano in your living room.” Danny stared at the monstrosity of a piano that took up the majority of Tony’s living room, a piano that was entirely out of place in a residence. The thing belonged in a concert hall, on a stage, not on the carpet in a living room. “Why on earth do you have such a huge piano? How in the world can you afford it? What would possess you to purchase it? Is a normal piano not acceptable or something?”

Tony gave an uncomfortable wave of his hand at Danny’s outburst, turning to lock his guns and badge away in his wall safe before walking over to the piano, one hand lovingly caressing the black veneer. “I inherited it. A few years back, my uncle Vicenzo ran into some trouble with the law. When they liquidated his assets they allowed me to take the piano because it’s a family heirloom, bought honestly and all that. Even the FBI can see reason on things like that. Plus, they owed me a favor.”

“Do you play?” Grace sidled up next to him, glancing at him with excited curiosity in her eyes. “Mommy wants me to take piano lessons because it’s supposed to be a good skill, but StepStan doesn’t want to buy a piano.”

Tony lifted Grace onto the leather piano bench, sitting down beside her and opening the cover. “Why don’t I teach you? I’m not leaving my piano here, so I’ll be able to give you lessons. Then your StepStan won’t have to buy a piano and your mommy will be happy that you’re taking lessons.”

Danny wandered around the apartment, listening to his soulmate and daughter as they discussed the basics of the musical scale, the sounds of their voices carrying in the small space. This apartment was not at all what he had expected. It wasn’t bare like his own sad shack or homey like Steve’s house. It was cold, pristine, impersonal. If it weren’t for the DVD collection and big screen, Danny would have sworn that he was in one of those mansions turned museums, staring at millions of dollars worth of bland decorations. There were no pictures hanging on the walls, no personal effects strewn through the rooms, no laundry out of place. Even the bathroom was in perfect condition, Tony’s toiletries neatly packed in a bag, as if he was a visitor in his own home. It made Danny sad to see just how self contained his soulmate was.

Everything that Danny knew about Tony had led him to expect a more vibrant home, a place as cheerful and bright as the man himself. Even before he’d met Tony, Danny had known that his soulmate was a personality to be reckoned with. This Spartan environment was what he expected from someone like Steve, not Tony. Seeing this made Danny want to wrap his submissive up in a hug, to take him away from the people who had made him feel like this facade was necessary. No one should have to hide so much of himself that even his home, his private sanctuary, was so repressed and sterilized.

As Danny entered the hall again, he heard Grace’s giggles coming from the kitchen, a sound that never stopped filling him with happiness. He followed the peels of laughter, smiling as he watched his soulmate swing his daughter around, “Fly Me to the Moon” coming out of his mouth as he serenaded the eight year old. Tony had tied an apron around each of them and started on the pizza while Danny snooped around the house. Flour covered their hands and forearms, leaving a light dusting all over the floor and counters as they danced.

“What’s this? Are we turning into ghosts” Danny slicked back a flour coated lock of Grace’s hair, scowling at the powder that followed on his fingers. “I disappear for ten minutes and you turn into some sort of monster from a bad horror film. Look at you! Where on earth did my little girl go? All I see is flour.”

“Danno,” Grace jumped out of Tony’s arms, a bowl off of the counter. “Tony’s going to teach me to make pizza! Look, I made the dough all by myself!”

“That’s very good, Monkey, look at that. It looks absolutely perfect. If you keep this up, we’ll never have to eat another pizza with pineapple on it again.”

“Are you ready to learn how to toss it, Princess Grace?” When she nodded, Tony grabbed the second bowl with an added flourish, carefully pulling the ball out and rolling it between his hands. “The key to a perfect pizza is the crust. It can’t be too thick or you won’t taste any of the sauce, but it can’t be too thin or it won’t be able to hold the cheese. It has to be just right. Watch me.”  
Grace and Danny watched in amazement as Tony tossed the dough in the air, rotating it as he did. Slowly, the blob of dough took on the right shape, the movement and momentum flattening the dough, turning it into a proper crust. Tony’s hands were sure, never slipping, never pulling too much dough in any one direction. When it was just right, thin like all proper New York pizzas, Tony lowered it down carefully, placing it on the baking stone he already had pulled out.

“Now it’s your turn, Princess. Just take your time.”

Before Tony could start helping Grace with her bowl of dough, both he and Danny felt the familiar sensation of writing on their arms, in Steve’s favored spot near the elbow. ‘We ran into some trouble at the airport. We’ll be there soon.’

“Dammit, Steve,” Danny pulled out his phone, leaving the kitchen as he started dialing. Grace didn’t need to hear what was no doubt going to be a mild blowout. “Chin, what the hell is going on? What kind of trouble did you run into, exactly?”

“It would appear that we have a welcoming party here to meet us,” was Chin Ho’s calm reply. “A Special Agent David met us at the gate. I believe that she wanted to talk to Steve about something.”  
“Of course she did.” Danny threw up his hands in frustration as he paced the length of the living room. “Please, please, this is me begging you, please drag Steve away from her and get out of there. Whatever it takes, do not let him talk to her. The two of them might actually kill each other and I do not want to spend my evening having to bail my stubborn soulmate out of jail because he didn’t listen to me.”

Chin was silent for a moment, probably weighing the situation that he was seeing with Danny’s words. Finally, he spoke. “I’ll see what I can do.”

Danny hung up the phone and ran a hand through his hair in aggravation, resisting the urge to simply pull the blonde strands out. Of course something would have to go wrong. Nothing could ever go right or be easy, not in his life, not with the soulmates that he had been given. It took several minutes for him to calm down enough to feel comfortable going back in the kitchen. He did his best to avoid being around Grace when he was angry, not wanting to upset her any more than he and Rachel already had in the past. She didn’t need to be exposed to any more negative emotions in her young life.

“Everything alright?” Tony looked up from where he’d been making (seriously, Danny already loved this guy) the sauce for the pizzas. The concern on his face made Danny want to pull him close and hug him.

“Uh, yeah,” Danny chose his words carefully, fully aware of Grace’s eyes on him. That little girl was far more perceptive than Danny would have liked sometimes. “Agent David decided to meet the team at the airport, so they’re going to be a little late to dinner. It shouldn’t take too long. What are we doing here?”

Alarm replaced the concern on Tony’s face, quickly followed by suspicion. Nothing good could come from Ziva and Steve meeting, especially not when Steve was directly responsible for Ziva’s suspension from NCIS. Things could, and probably would, go south very quickly.

“Do they need backup?” Tony put the spoon down, turning his full attention to Danny. He didn’t like the thought of anyone facing the brunt of Ziva’s anger alone, not even a SEAL like Steve. An angry Ziva was not something that Tony would unleash on anyone now that Ari was dead.

“Chin will call me if they need us,” Danny wanted to smooth that look off of Tony’s face. That concern laced with haunted resignation spoke far louder than anything Tony could have told Danny. Tony was so used to being the punching bag so that the rest of his team didn’t have to face it, was prepared for that to be his role with his mates. It was obvious that he was prepared to take Ziva’s anger on himself so that Steve wouldn’t have to. Danny wasn’t sure if he wanted to punch something or cry, maybe both. “Come on, babe, show me how to make a proper pizza.”

It took a moment before Tony relaxed, before a true smile spread on his face and he gestured to the pantry. “Put on an apron and wash your hands. You and Grace can put the pizzas together while I work on the salad and breadsticks.”

* * *

 

“Commander McGarrett,” Steve took one long look at the woman who had spoken to him, noting her faux casual posture, and turned around, using the illusion of talking to Chin and Kono to write a quick note to Danny and Tony so that they wouldn’t worry when they weren’t there on time. Danny knew his habits and would probably freak out if he were more than five minutes behind schedule. This would buy him at least half an hour to deal with Tony’s former partner.

“Special Agent David,” he took great pleasure in the angry surprise in those calculating eyes, just barely resisting the urge to point out that Mossad was not the only agency capable of pulling background information up on someone. “What can I do for you? We weren’t expecting a welcoming party, especially not one that includes one of the people who deliberately endangered my soulmate. Tell me what you want.”

“You made a mistake, Commander.” The confidence in her voice made Steve clench his fist to stay silent. “What happened the other day was a joke, nothing more. There was no attempt made to harm Tony. He was never in any danger. You are overreacting to a minor situation.”

“Oh, I’m overreacting?” Steve nodded like he understood her position, relaxing his posture to give her hope that he agreed with her, “I could see where that might be the case. If Tony had been making a lunch run, for example. Or if he’d needed to make a pit stop. Even possibly, if he’d been interviewing the victim’s family. Those are all times when I could see you possibly thinking that it was okay to turn off his only line of communication. While he’s collecting voice samples from suspected terrorists is not an appropriate time to do so. You may have grown up doing things differently in Mossad, but here in the US, we don’t place our teammates in danger out of a childish fit. If something had happened to him, I would have had you sent to prison as an accessory. As it is, you’re fortunate to have gotten off as lightly as you did.”

“Nothing happened to him, Commander,” she hissed, stepping into his personal space. “Tony is as unscathed now as he was before that case started. You had no right to demand my suspension over this. He is unharmed.”

“Your suspension?” Steve laughed, shaking his head in disbelief, “I didn’t demand your suspension, Agent David. I demanded your job. Anyone willing to disregard the regulations set in place for the protection of the team, to place a teammate in danger because of an unresolved argument, to act so childishly, doesn’t have a place in the world of law enforcement. People could have been hurt because of the actions you took, more people than just Tony. I wanted you to lose your career. Obviously you didn’t. You should consider yourself lucky and leave my soulmates alone, otherwise I can promise that you will lose far more than you job.”

“You had no right!” Ziva pushed into his face, her voice a low menacing hiss of anger. “You have no idea what I have been through because of Tony DiNozzo, the lives that have been lost because of him. Anything that I did was completely justified.”

“Michael Rivkin deserved to die,” Steve used his height to his advantage, looming over her. “Tony did not deserve to be abandoned by his backup.”

“Steve,” Chin placed a hand on his arm, pulling him a few feet away, “This confrontation won’t do anything for Tony. Let’s go. Kono already has the car. Leave her alone, it isn’t worth it.”  
Steve stared at Ziva for a long moment, the desire to fight with her and defend his soulmate warring with the desire to rush to Tony and ensure that he was safe. Finally, he nodded at Chin, shaking the hand off of his arm and turning away from the woman. His friend was right. At this moment in time, Tony needed him to be there far more than he needed him to defend his honor. As soon as he started to actively think about how much Tony needed him, Steve was overcome with the urge to rush to his soulmate, to wrap the man in his arms and ensure that he was truly alright, that he was truly there. He moved through the crowds at a faster speed, determined to have Tony in his arms as soon as possible.

* * *

 

"Steve," Tony heard Danny greet their other soulmate in the foyer, just a hint of worry in his voice. "Steven! What are you doing? You can't just-"

Before Tony could turn to see what was going on with his soulmates, tight bands of muscle wrapped around his waist, pulling him against a rock hard chest like he was a floatation device in the middle of a rough sea. Steve, he assumed, buried his face against Tony's throat, inhaling deeply. Tony shifted awkwardly in the embrace, not sure if he should do or say something to figure out what his soulmate was doing. Of all the scenarios he'd imagined for their first meeting, Tony had never imagined that Steve would do this, would just grab him and pull him in to some sort of pseudo hug. For someone who very purposely led a touch starved life, it was uncomfortable, unfamiliar, and just the smallest bit unwelcome. Soulmate or not, Steve was essentially a stranger to him.

"Steven, let go of Tony right now and tell me what's happened to bring your inner caveman to the front. I would've thought that you would at least pretend to be civilized the first time meeting him." Danny's voice rang out with the authority of their dominant mate, something that both of them would find incredibly difficult to resist obeying. Even as he spoke, Steve's arms were reluctantly loosening as he took a half step back, still filling Tony's personal space. Even if Steve was just a bit shorter than Tony was, he managed to take over the few inches between them simply with his overwhelming presence. "Good, now explain why you felt the need to come rushing in here without so much as a word of greeting."

"David," Steve spat, hands clenching at his sides as he resisted the urge to pull Tony close again, "She implied that what she and McGee did was something Tony deserved. It seemed like she regretted that their actions didn't cause him harm. I had to- Danno, I needed to make sure he was safe."

All of Danny's anger at Steve's brutish actions drained when he heard the explanation, anger at Ziva replacing it. His own countenance filled with rage, a red tinge taking over his pale complexion. Slowly, almost like the action scene in a movie, he closed his eyes, taking a purposely deep breath. "What Agent David said or did is not relevant right now, tonight. We can deal with her in the morning. Right now, we're here to meet our soulmate, to enjoy a dinner with our friends and his, not to dwell on the situation that brought us here. For tonight, forget your anger. We are going to have a nice evening. Please go help Grace set the table while I help Tony get the food together."

Steve stood there for a minute, clearly reluctant to leave his soulmates, defiance written in every tight muscle of his jaw. He stared silently at Danny, clearly having a conversation with the other man. Finally, Steve nodded, fingers brushing Tony's arm as he stepped away from the man and left the kitchen. Danny watched him go before turning back to Tony and sighing, stepping closer to the older man and reaching up to grab the back of his neck.

"Hey babe, look at me." Danny waited until those green eyes had focused on his before smiling. "Don't let this eat you. Whatever issues she has, those are her problem. You did what you had to do. You haven't done anything wrong, you hear me." When Tony nodded, unsure of what to say, Danny's approval shone through his eyes. "Good. Let's get this food out there before Kono hulks out. I've seen that woman eat a table when she's left hungry."

A choked back chuckle caught in Tony's throat as he straightened up, grabbing the bottle of wine he'd left on the counter to breathe and nodding his head towards the glasses. "Get those, would you? Ducky insists that wine must be enjoyed with pizza."

"Right behind you, babe."

With a steadying breath, Tony left the kitchen, preparing himself to meet his soulmates' team for the first time, to see his for the last. This was going to work. It had to. He'd waited too long for this moment for something to go wrong.

* * *

 

"I swear," Kono reached over Palmer and grabbed her fourth piece of pizza, shoving half of it in her mouth before talking again, "if you two don't marry him, I will. This is the best pizza I have ever had."  
"It is good," Chin chuckled, "Where did you learn to make it?"

Taking a sip of his wine, Tony shrugged, "Back in college, my Uncle Vicenzo hooked me up with a part time job at a pizza parlor his friend owned. Mikey taught me his dough recipe and I came up with the sauce myself. Secret recipe."

"Seriously, boss," Kono shot Steve a look that was only half serious, "If you don't marry him, he's all mine. Charlie and Adam both swear that they can't cook to save their lives. Not sure if it's true or not, but going by what we've talked about, they're hopeless in the kitchen. So, you know, if you don't want to eat delicious pizza all the time, he's mine."

"Uh, no," Danny shook his head emphatically, leaning towards Tony and laying one possessive hand on his arm. "He's taken, Kono. You have your own men out there waiting for you. If they can't cook, maybe they can learn. This one is not up for grabs."

Kono pouted for a minute before shrugging and going back to her pizza. There was a quiet laugh from Abby as she sent Tony a happy glance before focusing on her own food. Palmer and Ducky watched the exchange carefully, Palmer keeping his eyes on Danny and Steve where they flanked Tony. Whatever they were looking for must have been found, because Ducky cleared his throat, clearly bracing for a story.

"Your pizza has always reminded me of a delicious meal I once enjoyed in Naples, Anthony, some years ago of course." He unconsciously picked up a breadstick, using it to gesticulate his story. "Yes, I was enjoying the company of a beautiful young thing named Maria, a dancer that I had met the night before in a little cafe. She had insisted on showing me all of the best restaurants in town, the ones that tourists never found. There was this little shop tucked away in an alley where no tourist would dream of going, just a hole in the wall really. But the pizza," he paused, remembering, "The pizza was divine. Never had I tasted a pizza that good until you first made your pizza for us. It is something that I shall miss once you have gone."

That innocent statement reminded everyone there that as pleasant as the company had been, this was a bittersweet moment for Tony, a goodbye and a hello all at once. The adults around the table sobered, each one of them looking down at their plates. Grace put her fork down, looking around the table, wondering why everyone seemed so sad all of a sudden. She glanced over at Tony, seeing the same thing in her face that she saw in her Grandma's when she left New Jersey and realized something. Tony was moving all the way across the world just like she had. He was leaving all his friends. He was probably going to be lonely. Unhappy with her realization, Grace cleared her throat, calling attention to her.

"You can come visit us in Hawai'i. Uncle Steve has a big backyard that touches the beach. We can have a luau. Maybe Tony will cook then. They can come visit, can't they, Danno?"

Danny watched his little girl with pride, amazed as he ever was by how perceptive she was. "Of course they can come visit, Monkey. That's a great idea. Once we help Tony get moved and settled, we'll have to plan something fun for everyone."

Murmurs of agreement sounded from around the table as the jovial mood slowly returned, laughter once more sounding through the room. Tony watched as his family and that of his soulmates talked and joked, amazed that this group of people was together at all. He had been dreaming of this since that day thirty two years ago when Steve drew on his arm, dreamed of meeting his soulmates. Now that they were together, Tony could hardly believe that it was true, that it had actually happened. When Steve had joined the SEALs, Tony had all but given up on ever meeting his soulmates, on this ever happening. He had resigned himself to being alone, to always wondering where they were and what they were doing. Never had he imagined them coming to DC, coming to take him off to a new life with them. Tony sighed happily as he watched everyone joke, warmth filling him. He was with his family, no matter the circumstances that had brought them together, and he was going to enjoy this for as long as he could.


	4. Argument (Oihana)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is shorter than the previous one, but it is the final chapter of Tony's life in DC. Next chapter begins Hawai'i and the real story.
> 
> I just wanted to say a thank you to all of you who review. Sometimes, those reviews are the only thing that motivate me to wrte more.
> 
> I am not sure when I will update this again, as I am preparing for vacation and working on editing 50,000+ words of another Tony story, but it will be soon, I hope.

"How," Kono began, hands on her hips, "are we supposed to get that to Hawai'i?"

It was ten in the morning and 'Operation Move Tony to Hawai'i' was fully under way. After helping clean up after dinner the night before, Steve and Danny had gathered up the Five-0 team and all of them had made their way to a hotel, sparing Tony an awkward explanation to his soulmates about the size of his bed. They had shown up early this morning, stacks of moving boxes and several dozen donuts in hand. Under the carefully watchful eye of one Anthony D. DiNozzo Jr, they had made short work of packing up the kitchen before setting their sights on the living room.

Tony looked over from where he had been wrapping a vase to see what Kono was referring to. The baffled look on her face as she stared at his piano had him chuckling. "We hire a piano mover to come and get it packed up, they'll drive it to whatever transport we're using, and another mover will drive it to wherever I'm living, which is something that we still need to discuss, by the way."

"Discuss?" Steve set down the stack of DVD cases that he'd been packing and frowned, confusion wrinkling his brow. "You're moving in with me. Danny is too. There's nothing to discuss."

"Whoa whoa whoa," Danny walked into the room with his arms raised, shaking his head. He stopped between Steve and Tony and stared at Steve, "Nobody agreed to that arrangement, Steven, because you never asked. You cannot go making decisions for us without talking to us about them. That is not okay. This is not the Navy. You don't get to be high-handed with us."

"Your lease is up in a month and Tony needs a place to live. I own my own house. It makes sense for us all to move into my place. There's plenty of room. I don't see what the big deal is, Danny. We're all soulmates, we would end up living together anyhow."

The pure bafflement on Danny's face had Kono and Grace in giggles, sensing another rant, while Chin subtly counted down from five on his fingers. When he reached one, as if on cue, Danny started his rant. "You don't see what the big deal is with you making an executive decision about where we are going to live without any sort of discussion? I'll enlighten you. Not only do I have to discuss this with my ex because she'll do whatever she can to have my rights to Grace taken away if I so much as breathe without her permission, much less shack up with two other men, soulmates or not. There is also the little possibility that Tony and I aren't ready to live with you, that none of us are ready to live together. We've only been talking for a month, Steven, a month after twelve years of silence that you insisted on. Those twelve years aren't just going to disappear overnight, Steven. That separation hurt me. It might have hurt Tony. I, for one, need more time before I'm comfortable living with you."

"Danny," Steve looked pained, the furrow in between his brows pinched. It was clear that he was bothered by Danny's rant, that he wanted to defend himself. He opened his mouth to speak again, only to be cut off by Danny.

"No, Steven. I am not ready to live with you. If Tony is, then he can. He's more than welcome to. That's his decision. As for me, there is far too much that we have to work through before I'll feel comfortable living with you. That's just the way it is right now."

Sometime in the middle of Danny's rant, Chin and Kono had dragged Grace out of the apartment, unnoticed by the three soulmates. Now, Danny looked around the room, breathing a sigh of relief when he realized that his daughter wasn't there, that she wasn't witnessing the first real fight that he and Steve had built up to about the fact that they were soulmates. He glanced over at Tony, noticing for the first time that the other man had a completely blank look on his face, that he had shut down.

"Tony?" Danny approached him slowly, reaching out and brushing his hand down Tony's arm. "What's on your mind, big guy?"

Closing his eyes, Tony took a minute to collect himself before speaking. "I don't know what I want to do, as far as the living situation," his honesty bled through the words, "In the last twelve years, the only time I've lived with another person was when I was undercover for Director Shepard. My entire focus has been on my career. I don't want to pretend that that time didn't happen, that we weren't cut off from each other for so long, but I don't want to dwell on it, to hold on to the anger that I felt, that I've been feeling. I'm tired of being angry, and I'm tired of being alone. Danny, I think," he took a deep breath, "I think I will move in with Steve, in a separate room. That's the best I can do right now."

Danny nodded, rubbing Tony's arm in reassurance, "That's fine, Tony. I think it'll be just fine for you. Who knows, in a few months, Gracie and I might be comfortable living there too. Just, right now, I need time. We all need time. We need to get to know each other before we all pursue this any further. No, Steven," Steve shut his mouth, stopping his comment, "The things that we have discussed so far since our reunion do not count. Nor do the things that we discussed years ago. We have been separated for twelve years. Each of us has baggage that has come from that separation. We will take our time talking about it. We will learn about each other. This is non-negotiable."

Steve was silent for a few minutes, mulling things over, weighing his options. Finally, he nodded his acceptance of Danny's terms. "Alright. We'll do it your way, Danno. We'll take it slow."

"Thank you, Steven. Call Kono and tell them that it's safe to bring Gracie back. We have more packing to do." With that, Danny turned away, picking up an empty box and moving over to the bookcase, starting to put the books inside.

Steve and Tony took one long look at Danny and each other, then shrugged. Obviously the conversation was over, so they did the only thing that they could, and returned to packing themselves, Steve taking a few minutes to call Kono and give the all clear. By some unspoken agreement, they spread out throughout the room, none of them standing close to another, and focused on the task at hand. There was still a light tension in the room, but each of them did their best to pretend that everything was fine, that they were all okay.

* * *

  
"DiNozzo, open the door!" 

Everyone looked up at the pounding on the door, Kono and Chin glancing over at Danny before they looked at Tony. Even Tony himself had glanced at Danny first, before making sure that the door was truly locked, the chain in place. Gibbs had no reason to be here. Tony was no longer on his team. His presence could only mean that they needed to be prepared for more trouble from the MCRT.

It was almost a shame, putting a stop to the packing. They had made quick work of getting all of Tony's things packed up during the day, leaving only his closet and some of the big furniture left to be prepared for moving. An hour ago, the piano movers had finished what had been a six hour project of preparing the piano for transport and removing it from the apartment via the windows. It was now on its way to Andrews Air Force Base, where the team would be catching a C-130 back to JBPHH. Danny had been slightly incensed by Steve's highhandedness in procuring military transport, but if it meant that they would be back in Hawai'i and away from the MCRT sooner, then he was willing to accept it.

Now, rather than finish the last of the packing, and really, who needed that many bespoke suits, they would have to deal with Gibbs. It put a damper on what had previously been a relatively relaxed an enjoyable day.

Danny nodded to Tony, giving him the okay to open the door, even if he was reluctant to do so. Better that they deal with this now than have it looming over them when they got to Hawai'i. Maybe Gibbs could take a hint better than his subordinate team members seemed to be able to. Danny doubted it, but miracles did seem to happen sometimes, no matter how unlikely they were. Maybe they would get lucky and one would happen now.

"Gibbs," Tony opened the door, expressionless face and cold demeanor doing nothing to hide his anger at his former boss. Gibbs had been in a position to stop the insubordination from McGee and Ziva for several years, and he had done even less than Tony had to put a stop to it. The very last thing that Tony wanted to deal with right now was Gibbs. "What are you doing here?"

"We need to talk, DiNozzo." Not waiting for an invitation, Gibbs pushed his way into the apartment, walking swiftly to the living room and staring at the group that was there, taking in the boxes, butcher paper rolls, and tape. He whirled to face Tony. "What do you think you're doing, DiNozzo. I never gave you permission to leave my team."

Danny opened his mouth to say something, one hand lifted up as if to accentuate his point with gestures, but Tony shook his head, sending his soulmate a pleading look. He needed to be the one to fight this battle, not Danny or Steve. Nodding, Danny stuffed both of his hands in his pockets, rocking back on his heels and settling in for the show. He just hoped that Tony was able to get everything out in the open, to set the record and Gibbs straight. It was the first step in healing, and his soulmate needed that.

"I wasn't aware that I needed your permission, Gibbs." Tony had forced himself to stay relaxed, leaning against the breakfast bar, hands in his pockets and legs crossed. He may be more tense than he had felt in a long time, but he would be damned if he let his body give him away. He was a master of control when it came to his body language and he would use that to his advantage. "Last time I checked, the Director has the last say in whether or not an agent is reassigned to a different team or location. Since the Director is the one who gave me this assignment, I was under the impression that there was nothing you could do about it. It was a direct order, after all."

"That's not how my team works, and you know it," Gibbs stepped closer to Tony, dismissing the Five-0 team and the way that Danny and Steve tensed behind him. He was only a few feet away from Tony now, almost in his personal space. "You have a problem with the other members of my team, you come to me. You don't go to the Director. You don't go above my head. How many times have we had that discussion, DiNozzo?"

Tony stood up fully, stepping closer to Gibbs and using his slightly taller height to his advantage. He was not going to let this man intimidate him, not anymore. He had spent eight years living in Gibbs' shadow, being compared to Gibbs and falling short, being regularly disrespected because he was not Gibbs- no matter that his position on the team should have ensured respect from the lower ranked agents. Now, he was finished. He was not going to deal with it any longer. He was not going to let some sort of obligation or sense of duty make him kowtow to Gibbs' demands.

"I didn't go to the Director," he stated plainly, eyes ablaze. "I went to my dominant soulmates and expressed my displeasure with a situation at work to them, as soulmates are wont to do. I was not aware of how they would use that information or what they would do with it. I was not made aware of their actions until Danny walked into the bullpen yesterday. I had nothing to do with the situation." He took a deep breath, a little bit of self reprimand leaking into his tone. "I should have, though. I should have gone to the Director years ago, when the insubordination started and you allowed it. I should have curtailed it with Kate, made sure that it never started with McGee. Maybe then I would not have been in that situation. Sure, I think Ziva would probably still be insubordinate. The only person at NCIS that she respects is you, and even then she believes that she is better than you. So I should have done something, and my complacency is on me, but you're not innocent in all this.

"You made me Senior Field Agent when you hired me. You made me your second in command. You put me in a position above the rest of the team. Then you failed to ensure that they respected that position." His voice was rising just a little as years of pent up anger and frustration were finally released. "You regularly degraded me in front of probationary agents, in front of agents that I was supposed to hold a position of power over. Every head slap that you issued out showed them that it was okay for them to act out in their own ways, for them to fail to listen to me. In six years of working with Ziva, you reprimanded her in that fashion once, that I can remember. I lost count of how many times you've hit me. McGee didn't even receive a fraction of the physical discipline that you regularly issued to me.

"When you took your sabbatical to Mexico, I was put in charge of the team. I was tasked with making sure that the MCRT stayed intact, that we still functioned. Yet when you came back, you did nothing but tear down the work that I had done, the foundations that I had built. Maybe that was my fault too, trying my own leadership style, but the way you've acted for years was no help.

"You are part of the problem, Gibbs. You laid the groundwork for this situation. If you had been the Team Leader that you were supposed to be, if you had insisted on the structure of the team that was supposed to be, then this would not have happened. McGee never would have agreed to go along with Ziva's "harmless prank" because he would not have wanted to allow personal vendettas to interfere with a case. However, you never did insist that they respect me, and this is what happened.

"Now, I'm going to have to ask you to leave. We have a flight to catch and a lot of packing to do."

"We're not done here, DiNozzo." Gibbs growled, anger blazing in his own eyes. For a minute, Tony was sure that he was going to reach out and slap him one last time, but Gibbs' hands remained at his sides.

"Actually, you are." Steve stepped forward, standing next to Tony in a show of solidarity, but not touching him. No matter how much he wanted to reach out to his soulmate right now, it would do nothing but weaken his position in front of Gibbs. "You need to leave. Now."

Gibbs glared at Steve for a solid minute before turning around and leaving, not bothering to say another word to anyone as he went. The room as a whole relaxed as Tony put the chain back on the door, everyone deflating from where they had been reaching for their guns. It was touching, to see these complete strangers had been ready to physically defend him if he had needed. Tony hadn't known devotion like that in a long time, if he'd known it at all.

"Babe," Danny came up and grabbed Tony's hands, squeezing them, "You were amazing. You did so good. For a few minutes there, I was sure that he actually would explode in anger."

Tony smiled, a little drained. He had just released a lot of pent up anger and frustration in one go. It felt good, to finally have all of that anger out, to have purged himself of those negative emotions. It was a tiring good though, one that had him slumping against Danny and Steve as both of them pressed close to him. Steve's strong arms wrapped around him, holding him up, as Danny ran one hand through his hair.

"You did good, babe. Come on, let's get you comfortable. We'll finish the packing." Danny and Steve led him to the couch and helped him lay down. The last thing that he knew was a pair of lips pressed to his forehead. Then he slept.

* * *

  
When Tony woke up, Steve and Danny were the only people still in his apartment, both of them working to lay out a selection of Chinese take out boxes on the floor. Tony sat up, instantly aware in a way that Gibbs and NCIS had trained into him, and glanced around. The only thing still in the apartment was the couch that he had been sleeping on. All of the boxes and furniture that they had packed were long gone.

"How long was I asleep for," He slid off of the couch to inspect the take out, grabbing himself a box of Szechuan Chicken and a pair of chopsticks. "How'd you manage to get everything out without waking me up? I never sleep that heavily."

"Navy SEAL," Danny used his fork ("We live in America, Steven, and I will eat with the tools that we use in America.") and pointed at Steve, as though that explained everything. "He and Kono are so sneaky that they could probably spy on God without getting caught. They got everything out and on the way to Andrews in a matter of hours. It would have been creepy, if I weren't so used to it."

Steve didn't even have the decency to blush, staring at Tony like he was expecting a challenge from the older man. When none came, he nodded and returned to his lo mein, chopsticks in an easy grip in his left hand. He didn't need to say a word; he could tell that Tony understood exactly how he operated, and that he wasn't going to fight it. Steve couldn't help the small burst of pride that filled him at having a soulmate that understood how he operated and wasn't objecting. Danny, for all that he helped to sooth and balance out Steve's overbearing tendencies, did not understand that sometimes, it was exactly what was needed.

"So what's the plan now that everything is packed up?" He had already called his realtor, so that was taken care of. There would be another NCIS agent renting the apartment after Tony had it professionally cleaned. He'd thought about selling, but with the move to Hawai'i, having the extra income could only benefit him. Maybe after he was settled. "When are we leaving?"

"That's up to you, babe. We want you to have a chance to say goodbye to your friends, to go to the places that you'll miss the most, that sort of thing. We're not going to haul you off to the islands tonight. We can stay here for a few days, get you a room in our hotel. There isn't a hurry." Setting his fried rice down, Danny gestured around the room. "The only reason we packed up so quickly is because the C-130 reserved for your stuff leaves tomorrow with Chin, Kono, and Grace. We don't have to go back tomorrow just because they are."

"No," Tony shook his head, putting the chicken aside. "We can go with everyone tomorrow. There's nothing here that I want to see one more time, and I said goodbye to Abby, Ducky, and Jimmy yesterday. There's nothing else holding me here. I just want to go."

Danny nodded, he had expected Tony to say something like that. His soulmate was a stoic man by force, years of practice in hiding himself and his feelings. It would take some time, some healing, before Tony felt comfortable with actually showing just how much something bothered him. It wasn't something that Danny or Steve wanted to push, not when this was so new. There would be time later.

Looking around the empty living room, taking in his mates and the food, Tony leet out a wry chuckle. "You know, I never expected that our first date would be in my empty living room. A fancy restaurant, on the beach, maybe a stereotypical dinner and a movie, but not this. This is about as far from what I expected as we can get."

"I think it suits us," Steve shrugged. "We don't need a stereotypical date when we aren't exactly a stereotypical relationship. A trio is rare. Why should we do things the same way that everyone else does them? We'll do what works best for us. Right now, it's Chinese in the middle of your floor. Maybe someday it will be a date to a fancy restaurant. I'm sure you look as good in a tux as you do in those suits we packed up."

"Of course I look good in a tux. I've been wearing them since I was a kid. No one can wear a tux like a DiNozzo can." There may have been a tiny flush of pink on Tony's cheeks, but he had just been eating spicy chicken, so it must have been caused by that. "Do you even own a tux? I don't see you needing one very often when you're in the middle of a war zone."

Steve shrugged again. "I have my dress uniform, if I can't find a tux. No one has ever complained about it."

Closing his eyes to visualize Steve in his dress whites or blues, Tony nodded. No, no sane person would complain about Steve wearing his dress uniform. The man was already sinfully attractive. Adding the dress uniform would only serve to increase that attractiveness. Tony fidgeted as he pictured it, adjusting his position on the floor to hide the slight reaction that the mental image had caused. He'd always had a weakness for a man in uniform, and Steve was far more attractive than most that he'd known.

Danny was watching his soulmates knowingly, seeing Tony's reaction and Steve's smirk. It was almost too good, watching the awkward way both of them, natural flirts, tried not to flirt with each other. They were still getting to know each other, after all. Flirting with people that had never been physically there before must have been awkward for both of them.

"You know, Tony, the way you went off on Gibbs earlier," Danny lifted his coffee cup to his mouth and smiled, "Very attractive. It was good to see you lose your temper like that, to tell him everything that was on your mind. I-" he hesitated, not sure he should tell how much he had doubted that his soulmate would stand up for himself, but plowed through it. "I wasn't sure you would push back. Part of me thought that you were going to say yes to him, earlier. It can't be easy, leaving a boss that overbearing."

"It was time," Tony said simply, glancing up at his soulmates. "Things have been poison in that office for a long time, and I was just letting it get worse. It was time to leave, time to heal. I should have done it years ago, but I didn't have the motivation. I," he shrugged, "I wasn't going to start this relationship off when I was still carrying that baggage around with me. That isn't fair to any of us."

Danny and Steve exchanged a look before both of them turned to smile at Tony, their eyes sparkling with fondness. "You know, I think that this is going to work out," Danny said. "I think that we're going to be just fine, all of us."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

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**Author's Note:**

> Danny uses a lot of Yiddish slang, and Steve uses Hawaiian quite often, especially as he gets older. I will probably not translate most of this because there's a reason I'm using another language.
> 
> Birthdays for this AU (Based on the actors themselves)  
> Tony- July 8, 1968  
> Danny- August 23, 1976  
> Steve- August 24, 1976


End file.
